


Laughing

by GeorgeWeasleysGirl (hattersgirlalice)



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hattersgirlalice/pseuds/GeorgeWeasleysGirl
Summary: George asks the love of his life to marry him as they lay his brother to rest.





	Laughing

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is the first time I have introduced my OC Katie Quigley. She is the daughter of Finbar Quigley, one of the Beaters of the Irish International Quidditch team. Most of the time she is deaf. She is my beloved character. I love her.

Katie Quigley entered what was left of the Great Hall the evening after the Battle of Hogwarts was over. She had been in hiding with her mother for the last month, after her lover George Weasley had insisted upon it. Her father, FInbar Quigley was a pure blood wizard and had stayed in the wizarding world to do what he could hidden among the Voldemort supporters, a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. When the battle was over he immediately sent word to his wife and only daughter. He had not wanted them out of hiding yet, for although Voldemort was dead his supporters had fled and were still a threat. Katie simply could not stay away. She had to know her lover was alright.

Eyes searched the Great Hall for her father or the brilliant ginger hair of George's. She spotted them. A large group of gingers huddled around, to Katie's horror, a ginger laying on a stretcher as still as stone. Katie gave a strangled cry and began running the length of the hall. Several of the gingers turned toward her. Katie had no idea the noise she made since she was completely deaf. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley waved her over kindly and stepped back revealing George. To Katie's only slight relief, he was kneeling at the head of his twin brother.

George's eldest brother, Bill, gripped George's shoulder and said something to him. George looked up and saw Katie running to him. He stood up immediately and threw his arms open just as she reached him and jumped in his arms.

Katie threw her arms around his neck and began sobbing as she stroked his hair repeatedly. George tucked his head in the crook of her neck and sobbed openly as he held her so close to him and in such a strong grip his parents thought he might break her in two. After a few moments George grew weak and he pulled them both to their knees still crying into her neck as Katie continued to stroke his hair and rock him gently. They just stayed there on their knees for hours until George had cried himself into oblivion.

A few days later Katie woke up in her flat where she and George had been staying since he was too upset to go back to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes or the Burrow. Today was Fred's funeral. George would have to go back to the Burrow and deliver his twin's eulogy at the family cemetery behind the orchard behind their childhood home. 

Katie was surprised George was already awake and dressed in lurid robes of blazing orange. She blinked rapidly trying to adjust to the color. George had woken her by stroking her face gently as he sat crosslegged beside her.

"Morning," he signed.

"Are you okay," Katie signed back frowning.

"No," George told her. "Being okay... that's going to take a long time to get to... but I am so glad you are here with me."

Katie gave him a small smile and sat up. She stretched and yawned before pulling herself into George's lap like a child and resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't want to talk this morning. She didn't want to make him cry unnecessarily. George, however, wanted to talk. He gently pushed her back so he could use both is hands to talk to her. Fingerspelling was never one of his or Fred's strong suits. They were too impatient.

"Today is a big day for me," he told her. "I am burying half of myself." Katie choked back a sob and George paused to kiss her lips tenderly. "I lost a piece of myself in that battle, but I know he would be disappointed if I drown myself in sorrow. I can't... I'm not able to be alone, Katie. I was born a twin. I need the comfort of another..." He paused again and pulled a small black box out of the pocket of his robes.

Katie frowned at the box. They had been together for nearly five years. When Katie finished school and had moved into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with him they had talked about marriage. George had expressed that he was not the marrying type. Fred had wanted to get married, he said so at Bill's wedding almost a year ago and that thought pricked at Katie's heart, but George did not want any of that fluff. Katie was happy with George the way things were and was perfectly willing to go along with this.

She looked up at George who was smiling in a sly way. What was he up to? Slowly he pried open the box and Katie became even more confused. The box held two very tiny versions of Fred and George's invention Extendable Ears. The ear shell's were about the size of a pair of earring studs and the tiny cords from them were less than an inch long.

George told her nothing. He took one of the ears in his fingers fumbling a little with the tiny object in his large hands. He shut the box so as not to lose the other ear and set it aside and picked up his wand. With is wand hand he turned Katie's head so she was facing away from him. She tensed up as he began fumbling with the tiny object around her ear. She almost began to struggle as she felt the cord of the ear slip down her ear, but George paused in his work and kissed her cheek softly. He used his now lit wand to guide the tiny cord into her ear and then pressed the shell securely into her ear like an earplug. 

Katie felt him tap her ear with is wand and suddenly their was a roar inside her head. She let out a short scream but immediately cut herself off and clapped her hand over that ear. She heard herself scream and then winced as she heard her hand slap itself agains her ear. Suddenly tears were once again flowing down her face. She could hear. 

She could hear birds twittering outside her bedroom window. She could hear herself crying. She could hear George's heavy breathing and low chuckles as he realized his invention had worked. He had cured her deafness.

Still not saying a word, George turned her head in the opposite direction and proceeded to do the same to her other ear. The noises became even louder and Katie could hear herself crying openly. Her body was wracked with sobs. It sounded terrible and that made her cry even more.

Wordlessly, George helped her wipe away her tears and Katie reached out to do the same for him. She had no idea he had been working on this for her. From the moment they had started working on the Extendable Ears she had hoped they were working on a cure for her, but neither of them had ever said so. 

George pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back as she stroked his hair again. They sat there crying for a while before George pulled away. "Katie," he said softly.

"Is that my name," Katie signed in surprise. 

George nodded. "Katie," he said again and Katie almost sighed. Her name sounded so beautiful on his lips, but then again she was sure everything sounded good with is deep melodious tone. She had no idea really what deep and melodious meant, but she yearned to find out.

"Speak more," she signed.

"How do they feel?" He continued to sign so she knew what the words meant. She would have a lot to learn.

"Okay," Katie signed cocking her head to the side. "Like there's not even anything in my ears." She beamed at him then suddenly leaned forward capturing his face in her hands and crushing her lips to his humming as she moved them against his.

George groaned against her and Katie suddenly slid her hands upward to grip his hair, her right hand gently skimming over the scar that was what remained of HIS left ear. She wanted to kiss him, hold him, make him make all kinds of noises that she will be hearing for the first time ever... but she knew there were more important things to be done today.

"Katie," he mumbled as she pulled back. His eyes were closed and she could see tears glistening between his eyelashes. "Can you hear okay with them for now? We'll need to see a healer to balance them out properly..."

"They are wonderful," she signed cutting him off. "They are the greatest gift I have ever gotten. Thank you so much, George. I love you."

"I love you too, Katie," George said and signed making more tears form in her eyes. "I know I once told you that I did not want to get married... I still don't... I don't want a big wedding with hundreds of people watching us. But, Katie, please, bond with me this morning... before... before we... before I can't see him anymore."

"Yes," Katie signed and took his hands into hers. She smiled at him in a way she hope conveyed not only her happiness that he was willing to bond himself to her forever, but also that she was happy to become bonded to him in this way before his brother was buried. She let go of his hands. "Just your family... and my parents?" She asked hopefully.

George nodded. "You don't mind the robes?" He asked suddenly looking down at them. "This all just came to me this morning after I was sure the ears were ready to test."

"They are perfect," she signed.

"No they are not," George continued signing and talking. "I-we've worked on them forever... I just wanted you to hear me. I want you to hear it when you become my wife." Katie threw her arms around him again briefly. George pushed her away. "You should get ready. They are water proof and will keep any water from getting into your ear... so you can use them in the shower..."

Katie's eyes widened. "It will be loud!" she exclaimed with her hands.

"You need to get use to the noises. With help from a healer I can adjust the way you hear. Go get a shower. I will pick you something out to wear. F-Fred wouldn't want you to wear black to his funeral... and especially not to your wedding."

Katie slid off the bed, but before she went to the loo to shower she turned back to him. "Say your name!" she commanded him.

George looked taken aback. She repeated her command. "George," he says signing it out of habit. She made him say it again watching his lips closely. He had to say his name several times until finally...

"George!" Katie cried aloud. She grinned as he smiled softy at her and then turned on her heel to get ready. She took a quick hot shower and magically dried and arranged her hair the way she wanted before returning to her bedroom. 

George had made the bed while she was gone. The powder blue dress robes she had worn to the Yule Ball so many years ago were laid out on the bed along with her underpants and a pair of shoes. George had a very good sense of style and Katie enjoyed letting him pick out her clothes. She pulled them on and slipped into the matching shoes before searching the flat for George.

He was sitting out on the balcony that was just outside her living room. They were seven stories up so she hoped not many muggles would see his outlandish robes. George's finger ran circles around his teacup as he stared out over the street below them and at the building across from them.

"How was your shower?" He asked her not looking at her as he signed.

"Loud," Katie replied making sure he saw her gesture before moving to stand behind him and massaging his shoulders gently. They stayed like that for a long time before George reached up and put a hand over one of hers. "We should go." He stood and faced her. "I flooed to Bill's house and he send his patronus to everyone including your parents. They've all agreed to be there early. The officiate as well... with Fred..."

"I know how much this means to you, him still being there." Katie signed. "I think it is very beautiful. Don't think that you are making me uncomfortable. I love your idea."

George sighed. "I love you, Katie. You are going to have to be.... you are my everything."

They went back into the flat and disapperated together to the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley heard the crack in the back garden and came running out of the kitchen still in her dressing gown as if she had been waiting for them. "George! George! Oh George! Katie!" She cried pulling them down into her arms and kissing them multiple times.

Katie had to smile at hearing her soon to be mother-in-law's voice. It was everything George had described it to be. Mrs. Weasley had barely let go of them when Katie heard a crack that announced someone else had apperated into the garden. She turned to see her mother and father standing a not far away. She let go of George and Mrs. Weasley and ran to them throwing her arms around both of their necks.

"Katie, my baby girl," Katie could hear her mother whisper. Her parents were always talking and signing.

"Kitty," her father mumbled in his thick Irish accent.

Katie jumped back at the difference in the way he said her name. She looked excited and grinned at George when he took her hand as he and his mother joined them. "She wants you to say her name again, Mr. Quigley." He said squeezing her hand and not signing.

"Kitty?" Mr. Quigley asked raising an eyebrow. 

"Kitty," Katie whispered back uncertainly.

The three older people stared at her in wonder. George quickly explained that he had adjusted the Extendable Ears so that they would magically fix her hearing. He gave a lot of the credit to Fred, but everyone present knew that George had done the work.

Katie's mother, a muggle professor of Literature, pulled George into her arms. "I am so sorry for your loss, but thank you. Thank you for loving my daughter. Thank you for caring for her so much. Thank you for giving her this wonderful gift that I could not." 

George blushed a little. "Thank you, Mrs. Quigley."

Mr. Quigley smiled at George. They had been quite friendly with each other before the war. Mr. Quigley had been a beater for the Irish National Quidditch team and currently was a beater for the Ballycastle Bats, or he will be when Quidditch reforms, so they had a lot in common and a lot to talk about.

Mrs. Weasley gasped distracting them all. A muggle car was coming over the hill. They all knew what it was, a hearse. Katie felt George gasp beside her. She put her arm around him and her mother did the same for Mrs. Weasley.

"I will look after him until you send Arthur out, Molly," Mr. Quigley said soothingly.

Mrs. Weasley was led into the house by Mrs. Quigley. Katie gently tugged on George, but he refused to move. She sighed resigned. She was going to be by his side. Mr. Quigley took a stance on not Katie's side but George's. He put an arm around the young man's shoulder and Katie felt George tense for a moment and then relax. Mr. Quigley was treating him as a son, just as Mr. Weasley treated Katie as a daughter. The Hearse came to a stop in front of them and the little old man who had performed Dumbledore's funeral and Bill and Fleur's wedding climbed out of the front passenger's seat. A taller, younger man who was driving also stepped out.

George took a deep breath. "Thank you, Sir, for doing this for... for us..." He turned to Katie and squeezed her hand.

"This is most unusual," the tufty wizard said shaking his head. "Most unusual a wedding before a funeral."

"Thank you for you time, though," George plowed on but Katie could feel him becoming tense with anger. She gently rubbed circles on his back. 

The wizard was clearly eyeing George's strange attire for the funeral of his brother. Katie knew Fred would be dressed in something similar. She had to smile a little. Thankfully Mr. Weasley came to join them. He asked the driver to bring the casket out here in the yard to stand behind the tufty-haired wizard as he married Katie and George before taking it to the cemetery.

Far too soon the Quigley's and the Weasley's were gathered around Fred's casket, George and Katie. The casket was opened and George was staring down at his twin's still smiling face. Katie and George stood by the head of the casket and the tufty-haired wizard stood by it. Mr. and Mrs. Quigley, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione and even Percy were standing around them.

"He looks happy for us," George signed to Katie. 

Katie sniffed a little. She nodded to him and squeezed his hands.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the wizard began. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two faithful souls in matrimony." 

Katie held George's hands tightly as the wizard spoke. He had finally looked away from his brother to look at his soon to be wife. Tears sparkled in his eyes but he was smiling a little.

"Do you George Fabian take Katherine Tegan to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," George replied slowly and clearly so Katie could repeat it in a moment.

"Do you Katherine Tegan take George Fabian to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," she whispered. She blushed a little and squeezed his hands even tighter. She didn't want to embarrass him by her awkward sounding voice.

George barely heard it but it didn't seem to matter. They both felt a warmth around their left ring fingers and a golden band formed there. Katie took a sharp breath and shifted her hands so their fingers were entwined in front of them.

"...then I declare you bonded for life." The tufty-haired wizard waved his wand over them and silver stars swirled down around them just like it had done at Bill and Fleur's wedding. George tugged Katie's hands and they leaned towards each other kissing as they held their clasped hands between them. Suddenly birds and sparks of red and blue erupted from various wands startling both George and Katie. 

"It's what he would have wanted," Bill explained.

"It-It's what he would have done," Percy piped up. Percy had not spoken to George at all since Fred's death. He fully believed that George blamed him.

George smiled at Percy. "Yes. Yes, he would have."

"We would have done more," Charlie chimed in. "But it was kind of short notice." He grinned at George.

The driver of the hearse approached the group again and took out his wand to hover Fred's casket through the orchard. George released one of Katie's hands and slowly lowered the lid on the casket. "See you in a few minutes, Freddie. Thanks for being at my wedding," he whispered. George turned back to Katie and she wrapped him back in her arms and stroked his hair again. "I love you, Katie," he whispered.

"I love you, George," Katie whispered back holding him tight.

"George," Mrs. Weasley said thickly. "Please, why don't you come inside, everyone, come inside. We will have a toast."

Everyone made their way back into the house. They all knew this was the saddest wedding any of them had ever been to, but they would also agree it ended up being very beautiful. They all felt for a few moments that Fred was still with them. Inside Mr. Weasley poured everyone a glass of Ogden's Firewhiskey. He filled every glass except when he got to George's. George shook his head and summoned himself some pumpkin juice.

Katie smiled very proud of her husband. Her husband. "To George and Katie," Mr. Quigley said. 

All around them similar murmurs were said. As George took a sip of his pumpkin juice Katie kissed his cheek. "This ceremony was beautiful," she signed to him.

"Fred left a gaping hole in my heart, but you, my Love, are quickly helping it heal."

An hour later the Quigley's and the Weasley's were once again outside, but this time seated in fold out chairs in front of Fred's casket. George sat in the third seat next to his father. Katie was right beside him, an official Weasley. Percy was sitting on her other side. He sat straight and stiff.

The tufty-haired wizard spoke first and then Minister Shacklebolt, finally it was George's turn. Katie squeezed his hand hard and let him go. She could feel Percy begin to shake with emotion beside her and turned toward him and took his hand now. Percy looked at her appreciatively.

"Excuse me for using my hands so much," George began standing beside's Fred's casket not looking at the crowd but at his brother. He glanced up at Katie and scanned the crowd. "My wife," he smiled and the Weasley's all had to smile a little "Up until this morning was deaf. This may not seem relevant to you, but it really is. I gave her a pair of our Extendable Ears this morning Fred and I modified so she could hear. She's just now hearing words... so I am going to sign so she will understand...

"My brother was a genius. He was always thinking up new things. He was the one with the idea for our shop... and that was a very long time ago. A very very long time ago. When I started dating Katie it was Fred who suggested inventing something that would help her to hear. He came up with," George frowned and shook his head, "over half of our products. I made them work, but he was the creative one" George laughed but it wasn't heartily.

There was a very long pause. "I don't know what I am going to do without him. He was always first. He was born first. He did magic first. He got a girl first... he-he d-died first." 

Beside her Percy gave a gut wrenching sob. Katie squeezed his hands in hers. 

"It's okay, Percy, I don't blame you. Fred died knowing his big brother still loved and cared about him. He died knowing that you still had the ability to joke and in the middle of battle no less. My twin died happy. My twin died to free us from Voldemort and his Death Eaters!" George's voice had become strong for a moment. He sobbed.

"I remember," he turned toward Fred. He raised his hand and placed it on the casket. "When you turned Ron's teddy into a spider. Oh, sorry," he apologized turning back to Katie and signing. "And the time he and I tried to force our little brother into the unbreakable vow. We were just kids, in my defense. We always teased poor Percy. You made it too easy, Perce. 

"I was hardly every mad at my twin. We got along better than anyone. Even when he was doing something rash and stupid. I can only remember one time when I was ever truly mad at Fred. When he used our puffskin and used it for beater practice. Poor thing. I shouted at him for a very long time while taking care of our pet. He was the one who came up with the idea to breed pygmy puffs. He said it was to make up for what he had done to upset me so much.

"You are all probably pretty bored," George decided. "Fred wouldn't want that. You know I have so many memories with Fred. We had twenty great, wonderful years together. I guess I am thankful now we couldn't put our name in the Goblet of Fire... we would have never been able to see each other grow old." George stopped signing and reached in the casket to touch his brother's cold hand. "I'm going to miss you, Freddie. Watch over us." He fell silent again.

"My brother was a jokester, a prankster and he was a great friend. To most we may seem to be just attention seekers, who could be a bit cruel, but Fred was smart and caring and... He wanted to get married and raise a whole bunch of kids. My brother was a wonderful, wonderful man... and I am going to miss him terribly."

George couldn't' say anymore. He stared down at his brother his hands now clinched at his sides. The tufty-haired wizard raised his wand. Slowly the lid of the casket closed for the final time. The casket sealed and the ground beneath it opened up as the casket was lowered and it sealed back up over it. A beautiful tombstone appeared a vibrant orange color unlike all the plain marble ones.

"Here lies Fred Gideon Weasley. Son. Brother. Friend. "A day without laughter is a day wasted." Charlie Chaplin. 

George smiled a little. He had wasted too many days. He turned. Katie had silently approached him. He could see people getting up from their seats and several of them were making their way towards them. George cupped her neck with both of his hands and looked into her eyes for a moment before signing. "Where would you like to spend our honeymoon?"

"Right here," she signed back. "Learning how to say words and listening to any stories about Fred you want to share. I want us to spend our honeymoon... laughing."


End file.
